Pulaski County Circuit and County Clerk Terri Hollingsworth is no stranger to precinct data issues during elections, according to a 2022 document obtained by the Reckoning.
Hollingsworth received two letters from the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners (SBEC) — an “Offer Of Settlement” and a “Letter Of Warning” in 2022.
Hollingsworth once served as director of that commission.
In the “Offer of Settlement” it states: “The SBEC, having found probable cause to conclude that the precinct assignment error on the PVR list constitutes a violation of election law, offers to settle this complaint by issuing you the proposed and enclosed Letter of Warning. The proposed Letter of Warning is a written disposition of an allegation against any person which is commendatory in nature and expresses strong disapproval for this violation of election law which is of a nature that undermines public confidence in the integrity of the election process.”
The “Offer Of Settlement” also states: “The State Board wishes to clarify that this is a civil process designed to give oversight and accountability to the election process. The acceptance of this Offer of Settlement is NOT an admission of criminal wrongdoing of any kind and should not be construed as such.”
Hollingsworth signed the offer, dated Dec. 2, 2022.
As a result of the Reckoning's investigation in November 2024, the Pulaski County election process is again under scrutiny similar to 2022.
Richard Owens
After the Reckoning's investigation, and breaking the story about the county's election integrity issues, one Pulaski County Election Commissioner opted not to certify the 2024 Pulaski county election at a Nov. 19 meeting.
The Pulaski County Election Commissioners by a majority vote also sent citizen complaints to the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners, the Arkansas Attorney General's Election Integrity Unit and the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney at the same meeting.
Richard Owens
On Dec. 3, 2024, the Reckoning received confirmation from the Attorney General's office that it had received the complaints.
“The allegations of election irregularities in Pulaski County has been referred to us by the Pulaski County Board of Election Commissioners, and we have opened an investigation. It was referred to us yesterday,” according to Jeff LeMaster, communications director for the Attorney General's office on Dec. 3.
Computer problems
On Jan. 16, 2025, according to a press release from Hollingsworth, addressed “Ongoing Computer Issues.”
Another press release sent by Hollingsworth's office on Jan. 31 states, “The voter department is now able to process voter registration applications.”
What was up with voter registration? More on that in a minute.
Curiously, earlier in the morning and before Hollingsworth's office sent the Jan. 31 press release, the Reckoning stopped by the Pulaski County Clerk's office for an in-person inspection of public records concerning the 2024 early voting.
Richard Owens
After that debacle, the Reckoning sent a FOI request for emails from September 2024 to December 2024.
The Reckoning then published this story while waiting for the completion of the FOI request.
Suzi Parker
When the clerk’s office fulfilled the FOI request for 2024 emails, they also sent the Reckoning a trove of emails from 2022 that we did not request.
Those emails show yet another potential breakdown in Pulaski County's election process.
A 2022 email exchange between Election Coordinator Amanda Dickens and Assistant Chief Deputy Pulaski County Clerk Candace Edwards revealed a username and password exchange via email that allowed an employee access to “the voter database to verify the voter registration of our poll workers.”
Security risk?
A Federal Trade Commission article published in 2017 with the headline “Stick with Security: Require secure passwords and authentication” written by acting director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection Division Thomas B. Pahl explained password sharing can be dangerous.
“At a staff meeting, a company’s IT manager offers tips for employees about good password hygiene. She explains that passphrases or longer passwords are better than short passwords based on standard dictionary words or well-known information (for example, a child’s name, a pet, a birthday, or a favorite sports team). By establishing a more secure corporate password standard and educating employees about implementing it, the IT manager is taking a step to help her company reduce the risk of unauthorized access.”
One could consider that the password “Vote2022!” to access a voter database in 2022 was a bit shy of good password hygiene.
The FTC article further states about how to “store passwords securely.”
“A company’s first line of defense against data thieves is a workforce trained to keep passwords secret. But even the strongest password is ineffective if an employee writes it on a sticky note on her desk or shares it with someone else. Train your staff not to disclose passwords in response to phone calls or emails, including ones that may appear to be coming from a colleague. Con artists have been known to impersonate corporate officials by spoofing phone numbers or email addresses.
“A compromised password poses a particular risk if it can be used to open the door to even more sensitive information – for example, a database of other user credentials maintained on the network in plain, readable text. Make it difficult for data thieves to turn a lucky password guess into a catastrophic breach of your company’s most sensitive data by implementing policies and procedures to store credentials securely.”
Read the FTC article here.
The Reckoning reached out to the Arkansas Association of Counties for comment on training for county employees concerning cyber security and best practices to protect county computer systems.
At the time of publication, we have not received a comment.
Where's the precinct data from our FOIA?
A 2024 document obtained from Dickens indicates that in early December 2025 Pulaski Circuit/County Clerk Chief Administrator Keith Rancifer previously released two files containing precinct data information with Pulaski County Election Commissioner Susan Meadors.
Although Hollingsworth is the custodian of records for the Clerk's office, Rancifer handled the Reckoning's recent FOI request. He released one file containing precinct data to the Reckoning.
Richard emailed Rancifer with follow-up questions concerning the email obtained from Dickens. On Thursday, Richard received a phone call from Rancifer. The conversation quickly took a turn. Listen here.
The call log between Richard and Rancifer.
Richard was unable to explain to Rancifer the contradiction that is a result of receiving one email attachment from Rancifer and the December email exchange between Rancifer, Dickens and Meadors, which indicates two attachments.
The Reckoning's original request was to view all information in-person to review each time any Pulaski County employee accessed the voter precinct system and to document any other changes, if any exist. To date, the Reckoning has not been able to review that information.
Voter Registration
In at least two press releases and on social media, Hollingsworth stressed voter registration was unavailable during the computer system issues in her office over the last several weeks.
The Reckoning obtained a 2016 contract and related documents between Pulaski County and Election Systems & Software (ES&S), a popular U.S. election service provider.
In one document it states the county paid a one-time “purchase price” of $2,500 for access to the Secretary of State's “Power Profile” voter registration software.
“This will make redistricting, as well as other smaller changes to voter precincts and political characteristics, much more accurate and efficient,” according to a memo.
ES&S has been at the center of several voter controversies.
A Pro Publica article by Jessica Huseman called “The Market for Voting Machines Is Broken. This Company Has Thrived in It,” states that half of the country’s voting machines are made by ES&S. Huseman’s article explains that the government has little oversight over the machines.
Huseman writes that ES&S has “a reputation among both its competitors and election officials for routinely going to court when it fails to win contracts or has them taken away, suing voting jurisdictions, rivals, advocates for greater election security and others.”
“Tense weeks”
According to the Pulaski County Clerk's Facebook page on Friday, Feb. 7, a post stated the office “has experienced a few tense weeks.” So they had a party.
So far, Hollingsworth's office has not sent a press release stating all computer system problems are resolved, and the public still doesn't know what occurred with the computer system or in the 2024 election.
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